The Switch
by VenXEli4Ever
Summary: What happen's when Lexi agree's to switch places with her brother, Tidus, and ends up going to an all boys school? Will she get caught? Will she survive? Will she be able to keep this us for one whole year? Read and find out what happens! No pairings yet. Rated T just to be safe... I don't own anything except for Lexi and the plot!
1. Chapter 1

**-FANFICTION: THE SWITCH-**

I rarely went into Tidus's room unless it was to ask him for a favor.

But after seeing my brother throw a hissy-fit at dinner last night, there was an instinctive curiosity nipping at your consciousness. There just had to be a reason why he had thrown his chair across the kitchen floor. And that's why I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

His room hadn't changed much: it was still strewn with forgotten homework papers and cotton sweatshirts across its carpeted floor, and it still had the same muddy odor of unwashed jersey shirts. He looked up from his desk with wide eyes as soon as he saw me stepping in through the doorway.

"L-Lexi? What are you doing here?"

"I'm just checking up on my five-year old brother," I said, kicking aside one of his shirts. "You know, the one who threw a temper tantrum last night?"

Tidus made a face and turned around. "If you're just here to rub it in, then the door's right behind you."

"No, no," I replied, holding my hands up for peace. "I'm just here because I want to know why you threw it."

Slowly, the dirty blonde swiveled back to look at me with a skeptical look. "And…since when did you care about anything that related to me?"

"Last night."

"Huh. Interesting." He leaned back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, mom's making me go to the school I don't wanna go to."

"And that school would be…?"

He pointed over at his trashcan, which was filled to the brim with snack bar wrappers and ripped paper. Poking out from the top was a thick, crinkled catalog.

With a disgusted face, I held my breath and dramatically lifted it out from the bin. Tidus merely rolled his eyes and prodded you to look at its cover.

"'Hollow Bastion's Academy for…Boys'?" I said, unwrapping the crumpled brochure from the trash. "Mom wants you to go THERE?"

"Yeah…" Tidus sighed. "Does she really think I can survive without any girls in my life?"

After taking one last look at the cover's cheesy gold lettering and digitally enhanced scenery, I tossed it back into the trash. "Well, mom said you have to go. So you have to. You don't want to get her angry, do you?"

Tidus's eyes widened and he swiveled in his chair so that he didn't have to face me – or the hard facts. "Easy for you to say," he retorted with a snort. "You get to go to Destiny Academy. The one with all the crazy hot chicks and easy-breezy academics…"

"Well, it's not my fault I applied early," I remarked. "Mom did tell you that last month was your last chance to apply. But, if I remember correctly, you had an 'important date' with Selph-?"

"Gaaaagh, don't remind me!" Tidus cried. He scooped a sweatshirt from his floor and chucked it at my face. I barely managed to dodge it and watched as it hit his closed closet doors and sagged back to the floor. Once I turned back to look at my brother, he was crawled in a fetal position on his chair, holding a pillow close to his chest.

Sighing, I looked away from the embarrassing sight and rolled your eyes.

He was such a diva sometimes…

"Too bad you don't have anyone to switch places with you," I said aloud. "I mean, I would want to help you out, but you know I can't..."

Suddenly, there was a glint in Tidus's eye.

He rolled back to look at me with impish eyes and a hopeful grin.

"Wait, Lexi! What if you and I switch places? What if YOU went to MY SCHOOL and I went to YOURS?"

I looked back at my brother with repulsive eyes – completely horrorstruck by his insane idea.

"A-Are you CRAZY?!" I cried. "I'm a GIRL, for one. They'd spot me out easily!"

"Oh really?"

A smirk curled across the blonde's lips.

"I bet if you cut your hair and learned some manly etiquette you'd be okay. …And, better yet, mom would never know about this."

I just stood there, speechless. I REALLY don't want him to cut my long hair that took me forever to grow. And since where were there manners in boyhood…?

"That's just plain stupid," I snapped as I instantly turned away from both my brother and his insane idea. I waved an uncaring hand at his proposal, completely disgusted by Tidus's idea. "No, no, and NO. It's not going to happen."

Just as I was about to leave the door, though, Tidus left a few biting words:

"But didn't you always say that you wanted a BOYFRIEND…?"

Suddenly I felt a pang of pain shoot through my body. Tidus had got me – BAD.

I opened my mouth to utter a retort, but found no words to follow. In shameful defeat, I slowly turned around and shot him a death glare. After all, there was no reason for him to shoot so low.

He leaned back in his chair with a puffed chest, clearly aware that he'd nabbed me into his little trap. "This would be your perfect chance for you to see guys in action."

"Y-Yeah, but…I'd be posing as a guy myself."

Tidus got up out of his seat and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about that, Sis. Me and Wakka will fix you up."

I immediately shoved your brother's hand off your shoulder. "W-What!?"

"Aw, c'mon!" Tidus cried, groping for my shoulder once more. "Just give it a try! Please! You can't leave me to rot like thiiiis!"

"Get real!" I snapped, whirling around and pushing Tidus's hand off again. "There is absolutely NO WAY that I would pose as a boy for-…"

But as I saw Tidus on the floor clinging to my ankle, sniffling and looking up at me with pleading, puppy-dog eyes, I couldn't muster myself to shake him off.

…Yep, he was definitely a crybaby.

And I was his forgiving (and gullible) sister.

**。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・****＼****( ****｡****｡****)****／ ****.****。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・**

_NExt StoP: HoLLoW BaSTioN'S AcAdEmY foR BoYs._

The digital female voice resounded throughout the double-decker bus, making my ears prick up at the sound of my stop. Nervous, I flipped my cell phone's cover up and down. I reached for your phone's Keroro-gunso (**A/N: **thinks that how you spell it ^^) keychain strap, but – when I looked down to see that it was gone – I remembered how Tidus had ripped it off, telling me how it looked 'too girly for any guy to have'. I frowned at the memory.

With a sour face, I put my phone back into my bag and took the time to look at the other people on the bus. Most of them were schoolboys with the same uniform I had on: they, too, were attendees to the academy.

Most of them were playing with their phones or just looking out the window while holding on to a metal pole. Everyone had bags upon bags of luggage – after all, we were all going to be staying for life.

As I shivered at the idea of trying to keep my cover for one whole year, the bus had finally come to a screeching halt, surging me and many others forward.

_We HaVe ArriVeD aT HoLLoW BaSTioN'S AcAdEmY foR BoYs. PLeaSE taKe aLL oF yOuR bELoNGiNGS WiTH yOU. ThANK YoU._

As I exited along with a ton of other schoolboys, there was only one thought that lingered in my mind as I stepped off the bus:

Tidus had better be having a damn horrible time.

Without knowing where to go first, I decided to follow the crowd to what seemed to be the academy's main entrance. As I walked along with everyone else lugging my suitcase, I noticed how the school's architecture was quite remarkable: it had this old, colonial style feel to it, with cindered red brick walls and gray cobblestone pavement; cool, woody pine trees that were sprinkled across the campus grounds; crisp fresh open space for rest and relaxation or last minute studies; and of course, a large British-styled clock-tower just behind the academy's main hall.

As I continued to walk, I pulled a crumpled piece of paper from my pants pocket and looked down at Tidus's messy handwriting. Apparently, the number that was poorly scratched onto the paper was my dorm room number.

"Is this the way to the dorms…?" I whispered aloud. I took another look at the entrance where everyone was filing into, suitcases and all.

Shrugging, I followed everyone else into the building. However, I stopped short when I saw the long flight of stone steps that separated me from the building.

With a tight frown, I disdainfully shut your suitcase's handle shut and began to carry it up the stairs.

Just as I was about to make the final step to the door, however, someone had shoved me from the side and had knocked me and my baggage to the cracked cement ground.

"O-Oh! Sorry about that!"

"Here, let me help ya with that."

A young man with raven-clad hair sidestepped out of the crowd going indoors and lifted my suitcase up with ease. He then offered me to take his hand to help me up.

"T-Thanks," I said, self-consciously holding my head down. However, I remembered that boys were "tough" and immediately looked back up.

When I looked back up, however, I couldn't help but notice my helper's vivid blue eyes.

"The name's Zack. Zack Fair," he said, stretching his arm out for a shake. "From Gongaga."

"I-I'm Tidus," I said through a stutter. "J-Just…Tidus. From Destiny Islands."

"Ooh, so I was helping out a snooty rich boy on the first day, huh?" He gave a hearty laugh. "Now that's a first."

"I'm…not quite sure what you mean," I said, cocking my head to the side.

"Well, I'm a country boy," Zack replied with a casual wink. "So anything that doesn't sound like a backwater name sounds fancy to me."

"I…see."

I took another glance into his eyes – boy, were they pretty…

Were country boys' eyes always this pretty…?

"Hey man," Zack said, immediately breaking me out of my entrancing daydream. "You okay? You seem kinda…out of it."

"H-Huh?! O-Oh, no, I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You kinda looked a little spacey there." He put a firm hand onto my shoulder and shook me a bit, making my whole body flail to his every push and pull. "…Aaand a little weak, too."

"Zack!"

A light blonde bounded out of the sea of students and came running over with his luggage in tow.

"There you are!" he cried, huffing. "Where've you been? You said we'd meet by Cid's diner, but he told me you already went ahead!"

"I wanted to get our card key," Zack explained, pointing at the door's entrance. "We can't get to our dorms without our card keys."

"Oh…" the downtrodden blonde said. "Well, you could've at least texted me about it."

"Sorry about that," Zack said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But I heard from Leon that we already scored a dorm together again this year!"

"W-We did?!"

"Yeah, man!"

"That's gre-!" However, the blonde boy's sentence remained unfinished once he saw me standing awkwardly in front of them. "Oh? Who's…this?"

"Oh this is Tidus," Zack said, scooting me closer towards them. "He's one of the new fresh meat this year."

The blonde gave his friend a look before turning back to look at me.

"My name's Cloud Strife," he said with a taut smile. "But you can just call me Cloud. If you need anything, just ask. I…don't really tease that much, unlike Zack here."

"Hey! He knew I was just joking!"

As the two friends started to playfully bicker, however, I noticed how the crowd behind them was thinning out.

"Um," I began, "So…I have to get a card key before unpacking?"

"Yeah," Cloud replied, nodding. "You got to go inside and register with the staff. And then they give you your card key."

"Everything's all techy in Hollow Bastion," Zack spat. "It kinda creeps me out sometimes."

"Because you're a country boy?"

Zack smiled.

"Yep."


	2. Chapter 2

**-CHAPTER 2-**

Following Zack and Cloud's directions, I had managed to collect my keycard and was now on my way to my dorm. As I scrambled down the steps with my suitcase bumping along behind me, I couldn't help but notice yet another crowd of schoolboys outside on the academy's quad.

Curious, I silently circled around the crowd, trying to peer in every nook and cranny of arms and legs to try and get a look of what was happening in the middle.

A boy noticed me snooping around and took it upon himself to bounce out of the ring and explain.

"Denzel's getting owned again," he remarked. He pointed a thumb behind him at the circle.

I gulped and gave a slight nod in reply. Though, in my mind, I was now beginning to realize WHY Tidus didn't want to come here…

"And stay outta my way!"

Just then, a dark-haired boy emerged from the circle's center, shoving his way out of the crowd. As he stalked off – kicking a tuft of freshly padded petunias along the way – the crowd instantly dispersed, including the boy who had told me what had happened.

The scattering bodies slowly began to reveal a boy knocked out cold on the ground, motionless.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what a girl had to do then and there.

"Are you okay?" I cried, coming to kneel by his side.

"I…think so," the boy breathed. He slowly got up and put a hand to his forehead. "I… think that might leave a bruise."

"It looks pretty bad," I admitted, examining his forehead from what I could see between the boy's layered brown bangs. "Here, let's take you to the nurse."

Surprised, the boy's eyes widened.

"You'd…do that?"

"Well, yeah," I replied. "Why…wouldn't I?"

Embarrassed, he turned to look down at the ground.

"W-Well, it's just that nobody's ever done that for me…"

"The only thing is that I don't know where the nurse's office is," I sheepishly replied. "I'm…kind of new here."

"Oh that's okay…?" his sentence trailed off, subtly asking for my name.

"It's Tidus," I replied.

"I know where it is," he replied, smiling. "And I'm Denzel. Thanks for helping me."

**。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・****＼****( ****｡****｡****)****／ ****.****。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・**

The infirmary's glass doors and blank, white walls weren't as welcoming as I'd hoped. As soon as I pushed the door open, I immediately smelt the usual (and awful) stench of antiseptic. My eyes immediately watered.

"G-Gross," I spat, pinching my nose. "Is this what it always smells like?" I turned around to see Denzel, who seemed unaffected by the putrid smell.

"Pretty much," he replied, shrugging.

"Hey!" someone yelled.

Suddenly, a young man with bright red hair wheeled out from his office cubicle. His slumped posture against the chair and the lollipop stick he was chewing on clearly showed his apathy towards his job.

"What're kids doing in here already!? School hasn't even officially started yet!"

"W-Where's Quistis?" Denzel asked, his hand still pressed against the back of his head.

The fiery redhead shot the boy a menacing glare.

"Are you sayin' I can't do my job?"

The brunette's eyes immediately lowered, embarrassed.

"N-No, sir…"

The redhead clambered off the rolling chair and lumbered over with a haughty swag.

"The name's Reno. Don't you go forgettin' it. Now," he said, cracking his knuckles, "…Whaddaya need?"

Both Denzel and I exchanged fearful looks.

"J-Just an ice pack, I guess," Denzel replied, his eyes still laden to the floor.

"Sure thing." Kicking the chair aside, he went into another room that held all the medications and appropriate equipment. Once he came back, he flung a small packet of cold cubes at the boy. "But to tell ya the truth, you like perfectly fine, kid."

"Y-Yeah…" Denzel agreed. Though his face told differently.

"There was a fight," I blurted.

Reno's eyes widened. "What'd you say?!"

"N-No, it wasn't a big deal," Denzel quickly interjected. "I guess I wasn't looking where I was going and accidentally bumped into-!"

"Beating someone around the head ain't no accident, kid," Reno retorted, giving Denzel a cold, hard glare. "And this academy doesn't take bullying lightly. You should know that."

Embarrassed and lost for words, Denzel looked down at the floor. "Y-Yes, sir…"

Reno turned to look at me.

"You know who did this?"

"N-Not the name of the boy, no," I replied sullenly. "All I know is that he had black hair-"

"It was Vanitas," Denzel finished.

As soon as the name came out of Denzel's mouth, Reno's eyes started to roll. "Not that kid," he sighed. "Geebus, that kid's a loose cannon. I bet if his parents weren't so rich and endorsed the academy, he'd be kicked out on the spot."

"I'll file a report," Reno said, ducking back into his office. "Kid, you stay here."

Denzel silently nodded in reply; he didn't seem to mind being called 'kid'.

"Well, I guess I should go, then," I said, seizing this as a chance to escape. After all, I had lugged both the boy and my suitcase here. As I slid the door open to go, however, Denzel stopped me.

"Hey, Tidus?"

"Y-Yeah?" I stammered, expecting the boy to be angry at me for tattling.

But instead, I was rewarded with a heartwarming smile.

"Thanks."

And it was then that I felt my face grow hot out of embarrassment.

**。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・****＼****( ****｡****｡****)****／ ****.****。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・**

My dorm building looked old and rustic from the outside: the ragged cinder-brick and faded glass windows weren't didn't give a good impression. As I walked over to its entrance, however, I noticed two bickering boys at its gates.

"Ugh, why didn't anyone tell us that we needed a key first?!"

"Maybe if you read the brochure first they would've mentioned it."

"Oh s-o-r-r-y, Riku, but in case you didn't know…I DON'T LIKE TO READ!"

I shuddered at the boys' shrill voices. But as I looked down at the cardkey in my hand, an idea suddenly popped into my head. I looked back up at squabbling duo.

"H-Hey," I awkwardly began, taking a giant step towards the two, "I can help you guys get in if you want."

Both of them immediately swung their heads to look at me – apparently they didn't even know that anyone had been listening to their (rather loud) argument. They fell silent and watched as me waved the white plastic card around in my hand.

The spiky-haired brunette was the first to pounce.

"Gee, thanks!" he cried. He quickly snatched my hand and shook it up and down in a wild rhythm. "You really saved us!"

Sighing, the silver-haired boy stayed where he was and chose to cross his arms. "Yeah, thanks," he simply added.

"S-S-S-Sure," I stuttered in reply. The boy was still shaking my hand and I could feel my head start to spin… and my cheeks getting warmer.

'_Shoot. My cover's blown and school hasn't even STARTED.' _I mentally yell at myself. I was expecting the two boys to say something, but they luckily didn't notice me.

"O-Oh! Sorry!" the boy let my hand go, embarrassed by his wild enthusiasm. "I guess I shook too long, huh?"

"That's for sure," his friend remarked from behind. "You practically disjointed the guy."

"I'm so sorry!" he cried, bowing his head. "I've never been to a big city like this before! Excuse my manners!"

"Sora, you make it sound like we came from a cave…"

"Well, we practically did," the brunette replied, turning to look back up. "I mean, we always went to that cave…"

His friend merely sighed.

The boy stuck out his hand. "I'm Sora! And this here is Riku," he said, nodding over at his silver-haired buddy. "We're from Destiny Islands."

"I'm Tidus," I replied. "And…I can't say that I've heard of that place."

But I did.

It was the place I had wanted to go to oh-so badly.

But Tidus had taken it from me.

"Oh that's okay," Sora replied with a casual shrug. "Nobody knows it around here, anyway."

"I'm surprised we even got in," Riku added.

"Yeah, our mailing system is so slow!" Sora said. "I thought our applications wouldn't make it in before the deadline!"

"Well as soon as we get in and unpack, I've got to go check out their library."

"W-What?! WHY!?"

Riku turned to look at his gaping friend.

"This place has got to meet my studying standards."

"Augh, just give it a break already!" Sora wailed. "It's only the FIRST DAY."

"And we start school tomorrow," Riku shot back. "I've got to find a good place to study. Somewhere that's quiet."

Sora rolled his eyes in mouthed the word 'nerd' at me while pointing at Riku.

Those two were definitely an odd combination for friends…

I liked them…

**。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・****＼****( ****｡****｡****)****／ ****.****。****.:*****・****° .****。****.:*****・**

"Whoa, no way! We're next-door-dorm-mates!" Sora exclaimed.

After lugging my baggage up three flights of stairs, the three of us had managed to find our assigned rooms – which just so happened to be right next to one another.

Sora turned to look at me, a gleeful smile plastered across his face. "This must be fate!"

I fished the crumpled piece of paper Tidus had given me and glanced back up at the wooden door's gold-encrusted numbers.

303.

"Hey, wanna go grab some dinner with us in a few?" Sora interjected. "You can invite your roommate too, if he's already in there."

"Sure," I quickly replied.

And as Sora twisted his door's knob and went inside, I turned to look back at my closed door. After all, it wasn't until right now that I began to think about the dangers of sharing a room with a guy…

I would have to be extra careful not to get caught.

"Oh Tidus." I muttered under my breath. "I so blame you."

And then I took a deep breath and turned the knob.

And the only thing I saw was a boy. Inside. Who was going to share a room with me for the next year.

Oh great…

He was sitting atop his bed with an arm propped up on the caramel-colored windowsill, silent. It wasn't until I rolled my suitcase in that he turned around.

"Oh," he said plainly. "I didn't hear you."

Embarrassed with a red face, I found myself looking down at the room's carpet than at the boy. "S-Sorry," I stammered back, nervous.

He smiled back and twisted his body so that he turned to face me instead of the window. "No, it's okay. I'm Roxas. And you are…?"

"Tidus." Now that I was done with the frivolous introductions, I quickly turned to look at the suite-style bathroom the two of us were going to have to share… for the next year…

Oh boy…

"Would you…excuse me for a bit?"

The boy's head tilted to the side.

"Hu-?"

But I had already darted to the bathroom and had promptly shut the door behind me. I quickly hopped up onto the sink's countertop and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket.

I had a few words to give a certain someone on the other line…

After three rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"You didn't tell me I was gonna share a room with someone!" I immediately hissed.

"Lexi? Oh! Hey there, Sis!" Tidus said, rather nonchalantly. "What's-?"

"Oh don't you 'Sis' me!" I snapped, shaking my head vigorously. "You didn't say anything about me sharing a bathroom and a room with another guy! Do you know what mom would do to me if she found out I was sleeping with a guy!?"

"Okay, you're not actually sleeping with a guy because you're not in the same bed as-!"

"TIDUS!"

"Okay, okay! Sorry!" he cried.

"Sorry is not gonna cut it," I huffed back. "You owe me. Big time."

I twisted the sink's tap water on so it made it look like I was actually doing something in the bathroom.

"W-What do you want me to do?!" he shouted from the other end. "It's not like you can back out of it now. People have already seen your face, right?"

I bit my lip and didn't reply.

"…Thought so," he snarled.

"You still owe me," I said. And then I hung up and capped the sink's tap.

Tidus was over at the tropical islands of Destiny Academy.

In a single dorm room.

Alone.

In his privacy.

And I was in the populated streets of Hollow Bastion.

In a double dorm room.

With someone.

Without any privacy.

...Sigh…

How did this happen?


End file.
